Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz (IPA: ˈisak alβˈeniθ) (May 29, 1860 – May 18, 1909) was a Spanish pianist and composer, best known for his piano works that are based on Spanish folk music.
Born in Camprodon, Catalonia, Albéniz was a child prodigy who first performed at the age of four. At age seven he passed the entrance examination for piano at the Paris Conservatoire, but he was refused admission because he took out a ball from his pocket and broke a glass window while playing with it. By age fifteen, he had already given concerts worldwide. After a short stay at the Leipzig Conservatory, in 1876 he went to study in Brussels. In 1880, he went to Budapest to study with Franz Liszt, only to find out that Liszt was in Weimar, Germany.
In 1883 he met the teacher and composer Felip Pedrell, who inspired him to write Spanish music such as the Suite Española, Op. 47. The fifth movement of that suite, called Asturias (Leyenda) is probably most famous these days in the classical guitar world, even though it was originally composed for piano and only later transcribed to guitar by Francisco Tárrega. Many of his other compositions were also later transcribed to guitar - Albéniz himself preferred Tárrega's guitar transcriptions to his original piano works.
During the 1890s Albéniz lived in London and Paris and wrote mainly theatrical works. In 1900 he started to suffer from kidney disease and returned to the writing of piano music. Between 1905 and 1909 he composed his most famous work, Iberia (1908), a suite of twelve piano 'impressions'.
His orchestral works include Spanish Rhapsody (1887) and Catalonia (1899).
Albéniz died in 1909 at age 48 in Cambo-les-Bains and is buried in the Cementiri del Sudoest, Barcelona.
Cécilia Sarkozy, the (second) wife of French politician Nicolas Sarkozy, is the great-granddaughter of Isaac Albéniz. (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
Source of the extract of the biography : Wikipedia
Interest : Skill level : Thank you so much for
uploading this, especially
nice to see the entire suite
here - I have spent so much
time looking for all the
guitar arrangments of this
piece and am still missin
Sevilla and Castilla.
If I'm honest, I prefer these
pieces played on the guitar,
but they're great on piano
too. I find piano easier than
guitar and I've been agonising
over learning Cadiz on guitar
for whenever I'm doing my AS
performance assessment. But
playing a few of these would
be ideal because they're
higher than the standard my
exam board ask for (they ask
for grade 5) and these pieces
have a lot of character so I
could do a nice interpretation
of them. I especially love
Asturias - it's a nightmare to
play on guitar because of the
speed and high positions but
it looks much more playable
when scored for piano :)
Comment posted the 2011-09-30, by federico bowman (visitor)
Interest : Skill level : j'adore la piece...it was
awesome the greatest and heart
speeding song i've ever heard
in my life...its so beautiful
thax soooooo much for the free
piece
Comment posted the 2011-04-16, by Safari (visitor)
Member account
Espagne
Albéniz, Isaac : Torre Bermeja
Albéniz, Isaac : albeniz op232 nº5 seguidillas
Albéniz, Isaac : albeniz op092 02 minueto a silvia
Albéniz, Isaac : albeniz op165 nº3 malagueña
Albéniz, Isaac : albeniz op092 07 zambra granadina
Albéniz, Isaac : Célèbre Sérénade Espagnole (Op.181)
Albéniz, Isaac : Danzas Españolas (Op.37)
Albéniz, Isaac : Deseo, Estudio de concierto (Op.40)
Albéniz, Isaac : Espagne (Souvenirs)
Albéniz, Isaac : España (Op.165)
Albéniz, Isaac : Estudio impromptu (Op.56)
Albéniz, Isaac : Iberia (12 pieces in 4 books)
Albéniz, Isaac : Merlin (3 acts)
Albéniz, Isaac : 6 Pequeños Valses (Op.25)
Albéniz, Isaac : 10 Pièces (10. Tango Espagnol)
